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F1: Lewis Hamilton ‘taking nothing for granted’

By LJ Hutchins

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Lewis Hamilton may currently be topping the drivers’ championship – but he is taking nothing for granted, according to a news item just posted on his website.

In his Canadian Grand Prix debrief, he told fans that he was delighted to be leading team-mate Jenson Button by three points after the pair scored a closely-fought one-two following an eventful race in Montreal.

But he went on to say: “I have to be honest, Formula One is so tough and so competitive at the moment that you can’t take anything for granted.

“While I might be on top right now, I know that I’ll need to fight for every lap of the next 11 races to remain up there. And, I think I’m like the fifth leader of the championship so far this year, so it’s pretty clear that it’s not so easy staying on top.”

He said that, with the eagerly-anticipated 2010 season working out to be the most competitive for some time, and with different teams showing their strengths in every race, the best strategy was as much about “playing the long game, minimising mistakes, scoring points at every race” – as it was about success at individual races.

He added: “Actually, I think that’s the first time you can probably say that about a Formula 1 championship.

“Whether it’s the changes to the points system, or just the fact that there are maybe as many as 10 drivers out there with the machinery capable of winning races, you can’t afford to just take the points.

“You’ve got to be on the limit all the time – and I love that, because that’s how I love to race.”

As well as his season, he discussed the Montreal race and the performance of the McLaren MP4-24 in the harsh conditions presented by the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, saying that braking performance was an area the team had concentrated on.

“The pitwall and the strategy team judged everything perfectly. Andy [Latham, race engineer] fed me lots of information throughout the race, and really acted like a second pair of eyes for me. The team and I worked well together for this result.”